Red Moscow

After learning that the 3rd Armored Division assembled near Kochetovka had been heavily bombarded by the Soviets, Hort had to immediately hold an emergency military meeting to discuss how to rescue General Sturm's troops from danger.

"Gentlemen!" After all officers above the division level of the 48th and 57th Armored Corps arrived, Huot said, "A few hours ago, the Russians captured Kochetovka by surprise and seriously threatened to our retreat.

In order to relieve this crisis, I ordered General Sturm's 3rd Armored Division to assemble near Kochetovka and prepare to attack the Russians after daybreak and drive them from the area.

Unexpectedly, when they were about to launch an attack, the Russian artillery suddenly launched a fierce shelling on the area where they were assembled. Now the 3rd Armored Division has suffered heavy losses from the enemy's artillery fire. "

On the way to attend the meeting, the commander of the 11th Armored Division, Balck, heard the sound of rumbling guns in the distance. Hearing what Holt said at this moment, the two things were immediately connected. He couldn't help interjecting and asked: "Your Excellency, did you gather us just to rescue the 3rd Armored Division from its current danger?"

"Yes, General Balck, that's what I mean." Because of Balck's brilliant achievements in the past, Holt paid special attention to him. Seeing him talking now, he even asked him for advice on how to rescue the 3rd Armored Division: "You Is there any good way to save the current situation?"

"The Russians are bombarding the assembly point of the 3rd Armored Division," Balck secretly admired the timing of the Soviet artillery bombardment. At that time, in order to carry out the attack, most of Sturm's troops had left the fortifications and stayed in the fortress. On open ground that is vulnerable to attack. As long as the Soviet army fired its artillery, it could achieve huge results. If troops are sent into the shelled area at this moment, it may cause greater losses, so he said cautiously: "If we send troops to reinforce now, I am afraid it will increase unnecessary casualties."

"General Balck," General Kissina, the commander of the 57th Armored Corps, frowned and said after hearing Balck's words, "If there is no reinforcement, once the Russians launch an assault after the shelling ends, you think the 3rd Armored Corps, which suffered heavy losses, will Master, can you stop them?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, I'm just saying that no reinforcements can be given now, not no reinforcements." Balck turned his head and looked at Kissina, and said politely: "If the troops sent at this moment rush to the defense zone of the 3rd Armored Division, they will also There will be heavy casualties under the Russian artillery fire. So the best way is to wait for the Russian offensive to start, and it will not be too late for us to send reinforcements there.”

"General Balck, if according to what you said, it would be a little too late to send reinforcements after the Russian offensive begins?" Kissina waited for Balck to finish speaking, and published it without hesitation. Own opinion: "I recommend immediately deploying a force close to the shelled area, so that after the Russian shelling is over, they can rush to support the 3rd Armored Division as soon as possible."

"General Kissina, we currently have no way of knowing how big the Russians' bombardment area is, and we don't know whether they will implement extended shooting." Balck said modestly: "If the troops deployed nearby are right in the area where the artillery fire extends , When the Russians launch an attack, let alone reinforcements, whether they can protect themselves is a problem."

Holt stood aside, quietly listening to the debate between the two. At the beginning, he didn't speak, but he found that the debate between Kissina and Balk was getting more and more intense. He was afraid that the two would argue and affect the progress of the meeting, so he raised his hand to interrupt the two, and then looked at Balck asked: "General Balck, do you have any good ideas?"

"Your Excellency, this is how I think about it." Balck turned to face Huot and said: "We don't necessarily have to send troops to support the 3rd Armored Division, we can order artillery to suppress the Russian artillery. At the same time, the air force was dispatched to carry out intensive bombardment of the Russian artillery positions and the assembly points of the ground troops."

If it was a few months ago, Balck proposed to send the air force to bomb the Soviet artillery positions, Huot would definitely agree without hesitation, but at this time he could only sigh, and said helplessly: "General Balck , The Russians have now mastered the air supremacy over the Kursk salient, our air force cannot compete with them at all, even if we dispatch to bomb the Russian artillery positions and assembled infantry, I am afraid it will be difficult to achieve our goals."

"Chief of Staff," Hoth said to Balck, then turned to tell Chief of Staff Melinzin: "Immediately order the artillery to bombard the Russian artillery positions so that they can no longer bombard the 3rd Armored Division as they are now. "

"Understood, Your Excellency Commander." Mei Linjin replied: "I will immediately call the artillery and ask them to suppress the Russian artillery with artillery fire to reduce the casualties of the 3rd Armored Division."

When Meilinjin went to call the artillery, Huot continued: "Gentlemen, you still follow the earlier combat orders. The troops of the 11th and 17th Armored Divisions continue to maintain contact with the Russians in the Oboyan area. Greater Germany The division took the lead in turning in the direction of Yakovlevo and built a defensive line in that area to cover the retreat of the main force..."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Meilinjin, who was on the phone, hurried back before Holt finished speaking. He reported to Holt in a panic: "A Russian army was found in the Yakovlev area. troops."

"What did the Russian troops go to Yakovlevo?" Holt asked puzzled.

"According to reports from friendly forces, a force of the Russians has attacked a prisoner-of-war camp guarded by Italian troops and has rescued all the prisoners in the camp."

"Cunning Russians." After hearing Melinjin's words, Holt slammed his fist on the table angrily, "Based on what I know about Sokov, he will definitely incorporate these prisoners of war into his troops. "

"Your Excellency, Commander," Etling, the commander of the 17th Armored Division, asked curiously: "I heard that all Russian officers and soldiers who have been captured by our army, no matter whether they were released by us or escaped by themselves, wait until they return there. After that, they all have to undergo strict scrutiny. Those who are unlucky will be directly shot or sent to labor camps; if they are lucky, they will also be incorporated into their so-called punishment camps to undertake the most dangerous tasks on the battlefield. The prisoners rescued by Cove's troops can be directly incorporated into the army? I don't understand this point."

"General Etling, you don't know. If the prisoners were rescued by ordinary Russian troops, the situation you belonged to might appear. But the troops occupying the prisoner-of-war camp now are Sokov's subordinates." Merlin Jin explained to Etling: "Sokov is an anomaly among Russian commanders. The troops under his command have never been defeated. Therefore, his superiors took a tolerant and conniving attitude towards what he did. The practice of arbitrarily incorporating prisoners of war into the army is also turning a blind eye, pretending not to see it."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Etlin's face showed melancholy when he heard Meilinjin say this: "In the area controlled by our division, there are two prisoner-of-war camps, in which nearly 7,000 prisoners of war are held. If we want to retreat Now, what should we do with these prisoners of war?"

Holt remained silent, frowning and thinking.

Seeing that Holt did not speak, Etling asked tentatively: "Your Excellency, in order to prevent the Russians from using these prisoners of war to enrich their troops, I suggest that we kill all these prisoners of war when we retreat."

"General Etling!" Before Etling finished speaking, Kissina interrupted him sharply: "Don't you know that according to the Geneva Convention, you can't slaughter prisoners of war at will?"

Etling, who was criticized, curled his lips and said unconvinced: "The Russians have not signed the Geneva Convention. There is no need for us to abide by this convention."

"General Etling, let me remind you that we are the National Defense Forces, not executioners." Huot added: "I absolutely do not allow the massacre of prisoners of war to happen in my troops."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Etling felt a little anxious when he saw that Holt did not agree to kill the Soviet prisoners of war in the camps: "If our army retreats, these prisoner-of-war camps will fall into the hands of the Russians sooner or later. They have incorporated so many prisoners of war into the army, which will pose a great threat to us. To be safe, I think we should kill them all."

Seeing that Etling was always entangled in this matter, Holt knew that he would not be kind if he did not express his attitude, so he felt that he would blame the SS for this matter: "General Etling, let me remind you again, we The Wehrmacht, not the executioners. Let the SS do the dirty work."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at the Chief of Staff Mei Linjin who was standing aside, and motioned for him to say a few words. Mei Linjin, who understood Huott's intentions, said quickly: "Your Excellency, you are right. In our defense zone, there is a battalion of the 7th Cavalry Division of the SS. I think we can take care of the two prisoner-of-war camps." , handed over to them to be responsible.”

Seeing that Meilinjin had accurately grasped his intentions, Huot nodded with satisfaction, and said to the other party: "Chief of Staff, this matter is settled. Now you go to inform the artillery and use artillery fire to suppress the Russian artillery positions; at the same time , and then arrange someone to be responsible for the transfer of the management rights of the prisoner-of-war camp."

When Huot's order was conveyed to the artillery commander through Meilinjin, the Soviet artillery shelled the 3rd Armored Division for forty minutes. The artillery commander quickly ordered his subordinates to take off the artillery hanging from the back of the tractor truck and find a suitable location to deploy the artillery position.

When the German artillery positions were deployed and prepared to suppress the Soviet artillery positions according to the parameters provided by the artillery observers, the Soviet artillery bombardment of the 3rd Armored Division had ended. Dejin, who was in a mess, launched a charge.

Knowing that the Soviet army had launched an offensive, the German artillery commander could only change the shooting target and ordered the artillery to fire at the attacking Soviet army column, trying to disrupt the rhythm of the Soviet army's offensive with artillery fire.

The shells of the German army exploded in the ranks of the Soviet army. From time to time, some soldiers were blown to pieces, or were overturned by the blast wave; some tanks were hit by the artillery fire and stopped burning on the battlefield. But the remaining Soviet tanks and infantry still bravely charged against the enemy's artillery fire.

They quickly rushed to the location where the 3rd Armored Division was assembled. There were destroyed tanks and trucks everywhere, and incomplete bodies of German officers and soldiers could be seen in the bomb craters all over the ground. Although some German officers and soldiers survived, they shot immediately when they saw the Soviet commanders rushing up, but the damage caused was indeed minimal.

In the face of these German officers and soldiers who continued to be stubborn, the tank soldiers either stopped in place and fired at their hiding places, blowing them up to the sky with their weapons and men, or they drove directly over and quickly spun and crushed them all. into a ragu.

The German artillery fire, which had always been a threat to the Soviet offensive troops, found that the Soviet army and the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division were mixed together. In order to prevent accidental injury to their own people, they had to temporarily stop the shelling.

As soon as the shelling stopped, a large number of planes appeared in the sky. The German artillery commander saw that all of them were Soviet planes, half of which were bombers, and he was frightened out of his wits.

But he did not forget his duty, and immediately notified his subordinates by phone: "Everyone pay attention, the Russian plane is coming, transfer the position immediately, transfer the position immediately."

Although the German commander issued a warning in time, it was still a step late. How could the speed at which the artillery shifted positions could match the flying speed of the Soviet fighter planes. When the Soviet fleet rushed to the battlefield, it happened to see the German artillery in a mess on the ground, busy shifting positions.

The Soviet pilots received the order to destroy the German artillery positions. When they saw the German artillery on the ground, they all immediately dived and dropped bombs as if they had been shot with chicken blood.

The infantry covering the artillery saw Soviet bombers, attack aircraft and even fighter jets swooping down from high altitude, strafing and dropping bombs towards the artillery on the ground, and quickly organized air-to-air shooting.

In air defense operations, it is always the ground units that suffer the most. A group of German soldiers gathered in a group, desperately shooting at the Soviet planes in the air. When the unscathed Soviet attack plane flew over their heads, it dropped an aerial bomb, which landed in the middle of them and exploded. The gunpowder smoke dissipated, and apart from a huge bomb crater and the corpses lying around the bomb crater, there was no living German soldier in sight.

Hoth originally wanted to send the Grossdeutschland Division to reinforce the 3rd Armored Division after the Soviet artillery fire was suppressed, but he saw that the Soviet bombing was so violent and worried that they would become the target of the Soviet Air Force, so he temporarily changed the order , Let the Grossdeutschland Division continue to stand by on the spot, waiting for his next order.

"Your Excellency, Commander," Mei Linjin couldn't help but panic when he saw the fierce air attack outside and the 3rd Armored Division lost contact. He quickly asked Holt for instructions, "What should we do next?"

"After the Russian planes flew away, the Grossdeutschland Division advanced to Yakovlevo according to the plan. It is necessary to complete the construction of the fortifications before dark to ensure that the entire army can retreat safely."